Flames & Whirlpools
by Oh My Kira
Summary: Instead of Sasuke, Naruto saved Karin during the Chunin Exams in the Forest of Death. He unknowingly changed the future of both him & Karin... How will this impact his future, now that he has the sexy red-head by his side? Lemons! NaruKarin!
1. Chapter 1

**Well, I wanted to try something new, and this is the creation I came up with. I haven't been updating my other fanfics lately, but I think it's because I'm bored with them.**

**So I wanted to try something new, and that new thing is the couple. I usually write NaruSaku, but I wanted to put Naruto with my second favorite kunoichi this time; Karin. Yes, I like Karin. She's awesome. I like her and Sakura the best. :p So if you don't like her, don't read this.**

**Anyways, this just stems off from what if it was Naruto that saved Karin, instead of Sasuke? I liked the idea, so here it is. I hope you enjoy it! It will be pretty lengthy I say.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

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**Flames & Whirlpools**

**~Chapter 1~**

The water felt cool against Naruto's skin, clinging to his body as he came out from underneath the water. Sasuke threw kunai at three fish, pinning them against a nearby tree. They were in the Chunin Exams, the Forest of Death to be exact. They being himself, Sakura, and Sasuke.

Naruto came out of the river, excited that he and Sasuke had caught themselves a decent meal.

"Sasuke-kun, we need a fireball please!" Sakura called, her pink hair now short from her previous battle with the three Oto shinobi. The raven-haired shinobi made the correct hand signs and soon enough, he produced a good sized fireball from his mouth, effectively staring a fire.

They all sat around the fire, silence weighing down on them heavily. Sasuke and Sakura looked to be deep in thought, but Naruto eyed the fish hungrily, preoccupied with thoughts of devouring it. The fish were impaled by sharpened sticks, roasting over the fire, the smell wafting in mid air above the three.

"Four days have passed... We still need a Heaven scroll," Sasuke spoke up, his eyes meeting both Naruto and Sakura's.

"Many teams have already passed. That means..." Sakura's voice trailed off, the thought of their team not passing sunk into her as they sat in silence again.

Sasuke clenched the Earth scroll in his hand. 'This is getting bad...'

* * *

Another Konoha team sat against a large tree trunk, weary and exhausted from their desperate search for the Heaven scroll. "There's probably no one left to go after... What should we do?" A boy with light hair and sideburns said.

"Most of the teams have probably already passed..." Another boy pitched in. His hair was short and dark, unlike his other dark-haired teammate.

"Yeah, it is the fourth day..." A boy with long, dark hair said. "Anyway, it's noon, let's get some food." He started to walk away from his team. "You guys rest up. I'll go look around."

The light-haired boy turned to his teammate. "Hey..." His teammate turned to him. "Yeah?"

"I say we should take a peak at what's inside this scroll. I don't think we'll find a Heaven scroll anyways. We're pretty much screwed." His teammate nodded, but still looked uneasy about the ordeal.

The light-haired boy, fearlessly, began to unravel the scroll. It seemed to take hours, but the end of the scroll soon came.

They looked into it.

* * *

Naruto bit into the cooked fish, savoring its taste slowly, admiring how good it felt for his empty stomach to receive food after a long awaited time without a source of fuel.

"You know... There may not be anymore Heaven scrolls..." Sakura put down her half eaten fish in her lap, looking at Sasuke with an anxious expression.

"What do you mean, Sakura?" Sasuke chewed his food with no expression present on his face, almost as if he didn't care about what she had just said.

Sakura's explanation involved percentages, and as soon as he had heard it, Naruto tuned out her voice. Instead, he imagined her confessing her undying love for him. His face flushed as he imagined her moving in to kiss him on the lips.

But that fantasy was ruined when he remembered that Sakura had a huge crush on Sasuke. Naruto chewed his food harder at the thought of this. He wouldn't lose to Sasuke in anything! Not even Sakura's heart!

"Naruto, did you hear me?"

Reality came crashing back down on to the blonde.

"U-uh, what did you say, Sakura-chan?"

The pink-haired girl gave him a glare with her emerald green eyes as she moved into give him a smack across the head, but stopped, as she put her hands in her lap in an effort to control her anger.

"I said, the amount of teams that are able to pass has dropped by one, according to the percentage Sasuke-kun and I figured out," she blushed, smiling softly at Sasuke, though he ignored her blatant loving stare.

"And we can't be sure that the rest of the scrolls are in tact. If one of the scrolls is destroyed, that makes the other half meaningless." Sasuke declared, eyeing the Earth scroll that was on the ground near them.

"Since parting with our Konoha comrades, we needed two days to heal our injuries... But we have to be more active now..." He glared at the scroll.

"Either way..."

"The next enemy is our last chance." He looked at Naruto and Sakura, his face turning serious at what he had said.

"I'm going to get some water." Sasuke abruptly stood up and started to walk off.

"Wait! I'll get you some water, Sasuke! I'm thirsty too!" Naruto stood up and snatched the canteen from Sasuke's hand.

'Maybe if I get Sasuke some water, Sakura-chan will think I'm a gentleman and she'll think I'm much cooler than the teme!'

He went towards the river across from them and dunked the canteen in the river. "Dobe, that's salt water. We can't drink that," Sasuke reprimanded.

Naruto poured the water back in the river, blushing in embarrassment as he avoided Sakura's gaze. 'She probably thinks I'm an even bigger idiot now!'

"Then where do I get water from?" The blonde asked.

Sasuke pointed behind them. "There's a pond back over there somewhere. I saw it as we were passing."

Naruto nodded and went over to where his shirt and jacket were. He put his black shirt on first, then his orange jacket before he made his way in the direction Sasuke had pointed out.

* * *

He couldn't believe how lucky he was. He managed to take a weak team by himself, and by chance, they had a Heaven scroll in their possession.

Now him and his team could advance to the next part of the Chunin Exams! He rounded the tree that his teammates were at. "Hey guys, you won't believe what I found!" He came to a stop.

"Guys...?"

He dropped to his knees, his fists digging into the ground. His two teammates were passed out on the ground. He grit his teeth when he noticed the scroll next to their unconscious bodies.

"Those idiots..." He choked out in frustration, They obviously opened the scroll. Finally when they had obtained the other scroll, his teammates had to be dumbasses and open the Earth scroll.

He can't pass the exam if his other teammates weren't present, and it wasn't likely that they would wake up...

* * *

Naruto jumped from tree branch to tree branch , keeping an eye out for any body of water that may of been nearby. He jumped to another branch, then another, and another. He looked down below him, and then off into the distance in front of him.

"Stupid teme! He told me there was a pond around here!" He sighed, sitting down on the branch he was currently on. "Man, I'm thirsty." He took another look around in hopes of somehow spotting a body of water.

A scream pierced the silence of the vast forest. A roar soon followed afterwards.

He stood up immediately. "What was that?" Again, a scream was made.

The blonde ran to the area of which it came from. The screams were becoming louder, and louder, and louder...

He landed on another tree branch when he saw it.

A giant bear was standing on all fours in front of a girl. The girl was holding an Earth scroll. "Where are you guys?" She screamed as the bear prepared to swipe his paw down at her.

Naruto jumped off the branch. "Kage Bunshin no jutsu!" Two clones appeared in mid air beside him as the three of them kicked the bear in the head. The impact of the bear hitting the ground caused the girl to get knocked over on to the ground, her glasses falling off as well.

He kicked it hard enough to knock out the bear, much to his relief. Naruto jumped down from the bear's head and landed beside the girl.

'Woah...' He took notice of the girl's appearance fully. 'She's really cute, even cuter than Sakura-chan...' The girl had bright red hair, almost a scarlet color. It was medium in length, so it was longer than Sakura's, but on one side it looked a bit messy, but on the other it looked straight and neat.

But what caught his attention the most was the fact that her eyes were the same color as her hair. The only person that he had seen with red eyes that was natural were Kurenai-sensei's, but this girl's were much brighter and prettier.

"Are you alright?" He asked, genuine concern laced in his voice. The girl put her glasses back on and fixed them before looking at him. "Yeah, I am." She stared at him, her face turning red for some reason.

He put a hand on her forehead. "You sure? Your face is turning red." Naruto said, oblivious to the fact that she was blushing.

"Of course I'm sure!" She swatted his hand away from her forehead and huffed in annoyance. Her face was as red as a tomato by then.

'Her personality already seems to be a lot like Sakura-chan's.' He couldn't help but think.

"Hey, well, I'm Uzumaki Naruto!" He laughed, scratching the back of his head in an awkward gesture. She looked surprised that he was still being friendly with her after she had basically reprimanded him.

"I'm Karin." She looked crestfallen at how rude she was to this kind boy. But she might as well be nicer to him, since he's already nice to her.

He gave her a huge grin and stuck his hand out. "Well it's nice to meet ya, Karin!" She looked at his hand, the blush on her face was still apparent as she took it and shook hands with him.

"So where are your teammates?" He asked, taking a look around them as if he expected to see them coming down to check on Karin.

"We went off in different directions in search of a Heaven scroll..." She clutched the Earth scroll tightly in her hands, a frown gracing her pretty face. He watched as she brushed a few strands of hair off from her forehead, revealing a Kusagakure headband on her.

Naruto watched her face contort into a pained expression. He felt bad for her. Her teammates were gone, and she had almost gotten killed by a giant bear. There was nobody to protect her. He couldn't just leave her to fend for herself...

"The next enemy is our last chance." Sasuke's words echoed in his head perpetually as he took his words into consideration. The girl, Karin, had an Earth scroll, so she wouldn't be able to give them a Heaven scroll, but she was still considered an enemy since she was from Kusagakure...

"Hey."

The red-haired girl looked up.

"I'll help you find a Heaven scroll." Naruto said.

Either way, he knew he wanted to help Karin.

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**Some of the dialogue came directly from the manga! So yeah, just thought I'd let ya know. But I hope you enjoyed the beginning of this fanfic! I'm sorry for any spelling mistakes or errors... :x**

**Happy Valentine's day people!**

**I don't have much else to say, so please r&r! :D Review inspire me to write, so please review! xD I would like at least 10 reviews, so that I know that people actually like my story... :x So 10 reviews please! and I'll update faster!**


	2. Chapter 2

**I'm not exactly sure how often I'll be updating this! But once a month I'd say, or at least until I get back into the habit of updating my fics... **

**But thank you so much for all the favs/alerts! O_O I can't believe how many I got... And thank you for all the wonderful reviews! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

**

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**Flames & Whirlpools**

**~Chapter 2~  
**

Karin's face reflected the pure astonishment she felt at Naruto's rash, sudden decision. They had just met, yet this boy was already so willing to help her.

What was with this kid, anyways?

But still, she found herself strongly attracted to his chakra. It was warm, inviting, soothing. She was simply drawn to it.

"Look, Naruto, that's real nice and all, but I don't think I'll need any help." She stood up, trembling slightly as she did, still a bit shaken up from her encounter with the giant bear.

He stood up with her, unsure of what to say after the refusal of his help. He knew at once that she was a stubborn girl, but he knew he could crack her. He wouldn't take no for an answer.

"You know," he murmured, moving closer to Karin, the smell of perfume invading his nostrils as soon as he was within arm's reach of her. "You're going to need help if you almost just got killed by a bear."

He swung an arm around her shoulders in an effort to show her that he was really a good guy at heart. "I'm going to help you whether you like it or not, Karin!" He flashed another wide grin at her and took his arm away from her.

Another sniff. What was the smell? He took more of the perfume into his nostrils and tried to figure out what kind of perfume she was wearing. It was nice. Floral scented, perhaps?

Karin recoiled back from him in trepidation, still a bit weary of his true intentions. She could trust him, maybe, but on the other hand she really shouldn't let her guard down. But once she took another good look at him, he didn't really look like the type of person to betray others.

He actually looked kind of like an idiot.

"Fine, I'll accept your help." She adjusted her glasses and lightened up the harsh stare she was giving him prior to what she said. "But I'll be the leader between the two of us." She crossed her arms and prepared herself to hear any opposition from the blonde boy.

"Alright, that sounds good enough for me!"

Silence stretches between them for a few minutes, before Karin, out of no where, grabs Naruto by the front of his jacket. "What do you mean 'alright'"? She began to shake him hard, almost violently, though the emotion she was feeling at the moment contrasted with the action she was doing at that moment.

Naruto was nothing like her teammates. He actually listened to her, obeyed her commands. Her teammates didn't listen to her, nor did they let her be the leader of things. Hearing the blonde so willingly go along with what she wanted gave her a feeling of exuberance that could only be expressed with brutality. In a way, it was her way of showing affection, or maybe even gratitude.

Karin did not appear to be that feminine in the way she dressed, or in how she acted. She was sporting an open tan jacket with a black stripe that went across it. Under the jacket was a fishnet shirt that was dark enough to cover her assets. A pair of black leggings covered up her nicely toned legs. And to top it all of, she wore a pair of shinobi sandals with heels on them, giving her a more tom-boyish appeal as compared to girls like Ino or Sakura.

As for how she acted at times, like she had with Naruto, she could have a temper at times, but she can also be sweet and caring. But on the other hand, she could be a bit obsessive. Her obsession only became apparent when she had a crush on a guy. She didn't have crushes much, but if they were big enough, she would obsess over them.

The only thing that stood out about her that was feminine was that she loved perfume. A lot.

So basically, Karin was the whole package; a tom-boy at times with a temper to go along, but had a sweet side that would bring out her true femininity.

To Naruto, she was a lot like Sakura. But... there was something more to her, something different; and he was beginning to like it a lot more than what Sakura had to offer...

Seeing Naruto look like he was about to puke was what made her pause her shaking. She promptly released her hold on him and brushed his now wrinkled jacket as if he had gotten dust on it.

"Sorry, Naruto..." Her voice trailed off, the feeling of regret sinking into her. He really was a nice boy, or, he at least seemed like he was so far.

The jinchuuriki threw his arms behind his head, laughing off the action in a carefree way. "It's fine!" He gave her a thumbs up. "My teammate, Sakura-chan, she always does that kind of stuff to me, so I'm kinda used to it already."

Karin was silent, not knowing how to respond. After hearing that he already receives some form of mistreatment from his teammates like she experiences with her own, she decided that she would never treat Naruto like this Sakura person does. She would try to tone down any violent mood swings around the blonde.

"Right, well, if you're serious about helping me, we should probably get a move on."

She blushed at how nice she was being towards him. She didn't usually soften up towards people, much less guys like this.

"Okay! Then let's go!" Naruto pointed in front of them, signaling that they should be going in that direction.

The red-haired kunoichi gave him a quick nod before she jumped up onto a large tree branch. She looked down at him and watched as he jumped up on to the same branch with her.

The pair soon jumped from branch to branch in perfect sequence as the trees began to zip past them in green and brown blurs, the wind flying through their hair, breezing against their bodies from the fast pace the two were steadily going at. Karin remained in the lead the whole time with Naruto right behind her.

It was refreshing for a female to be in the lead for once. With Sakura, she would blindly follow Sasuke and let him be the leader. But Karin had this controlling side to her, and he kinda liked it.

Another branch, then another. Everything was all just one big blur after about twenty minutes of going through the forest. But even so, he wasn't getting tired at all, and from the looks of it, neither was she.

Another branch. She stopped.

Naruto lost his footing on the branch she stepped on, as he was prepared to jump a few more branches. He felt himself begin to fall, but her hand shot out and grabbed his wrist before he could land on the forest floor.

"You're clumsy, you know that?" She hoisted him up to the branch she was on and raised an eyebrow at him as he tried to remain calm and act like nothing happened.

"Anyway," she said, lowering her voice down as she looked to their left where an opening between all the branches and leaves were. "I sense somebody's chakra over there."

_What?_

Naruto looked at her. _What does she mean? I don't sense anybody. There's nobody around here. _He took another glance at the clearing, seeing nothing but a large tree in it.

"But Karin, there's nobody-"

"Look, I'm a sensor-type shinobi. My ability is that I'm particularly good at sensing people's chakra, so I'm not surprised you don't sense his," Karin said, her voice rings flat.

Naruto could only nod at this, his mouth agape slightly. The question of what abilities she possessed never came across his mind, not even once.

She gestured for him to come down with her right before she jumped down into the clearing and landed near the giant tree. He followed after her, not hesitating in the slightest as she slid up against the tree. She reached into the pouch at her side and pulled out a kunai.

He followed her lead and slid up against the tree as well. She inched slowly across the tree trunk and stopped right before she was about to turn and face the person that was apparently at the tree.

Her hand gripped the kunai, whitening her knuckles from how hard her grip was.

_Now!_

She rounded the tree completely, a piercing scream soon echoing from the forest. Naruto rounded the tree as well and stopped when he saw Karin holding a kunai up to a guy's neck.

"What kind of scroll do you have?" She whispered into his ear, a deadly tone leaking from it.

"A H-heaven scroll..." He stuttered out. Sweat began to form at his brow and roll down the side of his face as the red-haired girl backed away from him slowly.

She looked to his side and noticed his other two teammates down on the ground looking as if they were knocked out.

"Y-you can have it! M-my teammates are out. W-we probably can't p-participate now..." He lamely held the scroll out to her in both of his hands, his head bowed down almost as if he couldn't look at her.

Karin snatched the scroll from his hands, but not without giving him a sympathetic look in return.

"Well, we got a Heaven Scroll, so let's go, Naruto!" She jumped high up on to a branch above them.

Naruto stood there, dumbfounded. They got a Heaven Scroll that easily? Just like that? He blinked, unsure of what to think of this prospect. That could of been him and his team getting one...

He grimaced, but shrugged it off. They could find one easily! He gave another look at the guy who was still shaking from having a kunai up to his neck before jumping up to where Karin was.

As soon as he got up there, he felt like he was being crushed, causing him to close his eyes. He opened his blue eyes and was met with bright red invading his vision.

"Thanks so much for helping me find a Heaven Scroll, Naruto!" Karin had her arms wrapped tightly around Naruto, but she quickly let go with the scroll held firmly in her hand.

Her face was slightly pink, and Naruto could also feel his face hot from being embraced like that. Come to think of it, it was the only hug he has ever received from a girl...

"Uh, you're welcome, Karin."

He wasn't exactly sure how he helped, though. He didn't really do anything, it was just her that threatened the guy and obtained the scroll. Naruto smiled. But... he'd like to think that he was the one who gave her the confidence to go out and find the scroll.

So maybe he helped her, in a way.

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**I apologize for how short the chapter is... I just didn't have the time to make it longer. I'm really sorry! D: **

**Sorry for any spelling mistakes I made!**

**Anyways, I don't have much else to say! So please r&r! :D **


	3. Chapter 3

**Yeah, I know its been a long, long time since I last updated, and I apologize greatly. Many things have happened, some bad, and some good. I did not die. I'm going to be honest here, but a few of my reviewers were assholes about me not updating. Well sorry, but those weren't "lame ass excuses." My friend really did die about a year and a half ago, and I was really depressed about it. I've been fine for a while now, but honestly, I had no inspiration after she died and I didn't for a while after that. **

**But anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter, even if it is short and boring.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

_Last Chapter..._**  
**

_"Well, we got a Heaven Scroll, so let's go, Naruto!" She jumped high up on to a branch above them._

_Naruto stood there, dumbfounded. They got a Heaven Scroll that easily? Just like that? He blinked, unsure of what to think of this prospect. That could of been him and his team getting one..._

_He grimaced, but shrugged it off. They could find one easily! He gave another look at the guy who was still shaking from having a kunai up to his neck before jumping up to where Karin was._

_As soon as he got up there, he felt like he was being crushed, causing him to close his eyes. He opened his blue eyes and was met with bright red invading his vision._

_"Thanks so much for helping me find a Heaven Scroll, Naruto!" Karin had her arms wrapped tightly around Naruto, but she quickly let go with the scroll held firmly in her hand._

_Her face was slightly pink, and Naruto could also feel his face hot from being embraced like that. Come to think of it, it was the only hug he has ever received from a girl..._

_"Uh, you're welcome, Karin."_

_He wasn't exactly sure how he helped, though. He didn't really do anything, it was just her that threatened the guy and obtained the scroll. Naruto smiled. But... he'd like to think that he was the one who gave her the confidence to go out and find the scroll._

_So maybe he helped her, in a way._

* * *

Naruto and the rest of Team 7 quickly found themselves standing in line with the rest of the other competing teams. They had successfully found the other scroll after having to go through Team Oboro's obnoxious genjutsu. Once they had defeated them, they took the scroll for their own. Before that, apparently something else happened to his team, but neither Sasuke nor Sakura would tell him. He only knew something happened because Sakura's hair was now cropped short and Sasuke kept clutching at his neck for some reason.

Naruto looked around at the other teams that had made it. He saw Kiba's team, Team 8, much to his surprise. Inuzuka Kiba was somewhat of a childhood friend of his. They played in the park together along with some of the other guys when they were younger, but that all stopped when their parents found out they were hanging with Naruto. Behind Kiba was Aburame Shino. He was somebody Naruto didn't know much about. All he knew was that his special weapon was bugs. Naruto shuddered. Bugs literally crawled all over Shino's body. . . That was something he didn't want to dwell on.

And finally, behind Shino, was a dark-haired girl named Hyuuga Hinata. She was really weird, in Naruto's opinion. Whenever he tried saying hi to her, her face would get red and she'd mumble something he couldn't understand. He figured she just didn't want to associate with someone like him, since she was from a prestigious clan and that the adults she grew up with must have influenced her.

The blonde looked away from Team 8 and directed his attention to the other side of the room. Shikamaru's team was here as well. In Nara Shikamaru's team was Yamanaka Ino and Akimichi Chouji. Ino was just straight up loud and annoying while Chouji just ate all the time. Shikamaru, on the other hand, was a pretty cool guy, minus the laziness in him.

Naruto identified other teams as well; Lee's team, that creepy guy Gaara and his team, Kabuto's team.

_I wonder where Karin and her team are . . ._ Naruto couldn't help but wonder. He did another look around, and immediately identified her bright red hair. Karin had a few scratches here and there, but for the most part she looked fine. The same went with her other two teammates. Naruto let himself exhale, finally, after he had made sure she was alright.

Sarutobi, the Sandaime Hokage, as well as the other jounin senseis plus Mitarashi Anko, Umino Iruka and Morino Ibiki were all present, standing in front of the genin teams. Sarutobi stepped forward after a short announcement from Anko.

"For the coming third test… But before I explain that, there is something I'd like you to know." He tipped his Hokage hat in front of his eyes before continuing. "This exam is…" He suddenly looked up from beneath his hat. "A replacement for war among allied countries." There were collective whispers among the chuunin exam participants. The Sandaime let them talk amongst themselves before deciding to continue. "It is a fact that this exam determines which shinobis have what it takes to become a chuunin."

"But on the other hand, this exam has another side…"

"I don't care what it is, just hurry up and tell us what this life-risking battle entails," Gaara interrupted, looking straight at the Hokage. It was evident he had no respect for the Hokage.

Sarutobi eyed him. "Yes, I'd like to now explain the third test but…"

"Actually," a voice coughed. A man materialized in front of the Hokage and the other jounin standing with him. "From here on, as the referee, will you please allow me, Hayate Gekkou…" The new man, Hayate bowed his head in honor of village's leader.

Sarutobi nodded. "By all means.".

He stood up and faced the rows of genin. Hayate had short brown hair and dark markings under his eyes. He wore his hitai-ate as a bandanna around his head and was garbed in the standard Konoha shinobi outfit. "Hello everyone, I'm Hayate." He coughed a few times, causing the genin to wonder what was wrong with him. "Before the third test, there's a preliminary test to decide who participates in the main event."

A few of the genin expressed clear dislike verbally. "According to the chuunin exam rules we must have a preliminary exam if too many teams pass the first two exams." Hayate explained.

"So those who are not feeling well, or those who feel like quitting, please come forward now."

Kabuto stepped forward. "Umm… I'm going to quit." He raised his hand, smiling as if he were happy about quitting.

Naruto looked at him in disbelief. "K-Kabuto-san…" He stuttered out. How could he just quit like that? Naruto couldn't comprehend any reasoning he might have had.

"Very well. Yakushi Kabuto is out. Would anyone else like to quit?" Hayate asked the group of reluctant genins.

Naruto heard whimpering behind him, causing him to turn around and look back at his teammates. Sakura was shaking as tears streamed down her pretty face. "Please… Quit, you're in no condition to fight, Sasuke-kun!"

"Be quiet!" Sasuke roughly grabbed her wrist white clutching at his neck. "Shut up about this mark." He looked right into her eyes as his cold exterior came back.

"Why are you so stubborn?!" Sakura whispered harshly back, "I don't want to see you suffering anymore!"

"This has nothing to do with you." Sasuke glared at her. "Stay out of my business." He turned to Naruto and smirked at him before turning back to face Hayate Gekkou.

Meanwhile, Karin watched the whole exchange between Sasuke and Sakura with mild interest. Naruto's teammates seemed a little odd… but they weren't nearly as interesting as the blonde. She made sure to catch his eye before he turned around.

Naruto had to fight a blush from creeping on his cheeks when he caught Karin looking at him. She sure was cute, he couldn't help but think…!

"Alright, let's begin the preliminary. The preliminary will consist of one on one fighting. You will basically fight as if in real life confrontation. Since we have exactly 20 participants, we will have 10 matches. The winners will advance to the third test."

"There will be basically no rules. The fight continues until one of you dies or is knocked out or admits your defeat. But when I decide the winner has been clearly established, I'll jump in and stop things."

All of a sudden the panel of wood up above the jounins slide up and revealed an electric score board.

"This is an electric scoreboard. It will show the matchups for each battle. Now, this is sudden, but let's announce the 2 names of the first fight."

The score board suddenly lit up as it began showing names. The names started jumbling around before it finally stopped.

_Uchiha Sasuke VS Karin_

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**I just want to say, a lot of the dialogue of the Sandaime and Hayate came straight from the manga, as well as Sasuke and Sakura's. I couldn't recall what exactly happened because it's been a while since I last watched the chuunin exams. This chapter may have been boring, but I felt it was necessary. Small NaruKarin moment, but there will be more soon!**

** Reviews would be greatly appreciated!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey guys, thanks for all the reviews last chapter! Umm I'm no good with fighting scenes, so bear me here. I'm not going to go into detail with some of these fights because I'm guessing most of you have watched the anime/read the manga, so it would be pointless for you to read what you already know. I will, however, go into detail with the new matchups I do. Some I'll be leaving the same as canon because I think they're especially important for canon character development (Hinata vs. Neji, Sakura vs. Ino, etc).**

**Just to let you all know, to clear up any confusion, I purposely left out the Sound team from the preliminaries. By that time in the anime, they're not important anymore, so I replaced them with Karin's team. **

**So yeah, enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

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**(A/N: Sorry to start this off with an Author's note, but I made an important change to the last chapter. Instead of Sasuke vs. Yoroi, it will now be Sasuke vs. Karin. I've decided to change things up a little.) **

_Sasuke Uchiha vs. Karin _

"The first two participants are Karin and Uchiha Sasuke." Hayate looked between the two of them. "Are you ready?"

Sasuke looked at Karin and resisted the urge to smirk. _Too easy... _He couldn't help but think. "Yeah," was all he said. Karin could only nod in reply as butterflies made themselves known in her stomach. He was handsome, she had to admit, but that wasn't what was making her nervous. The Uchihas were a renowned clan, even in the small village of Kusagakure. She didn't know how long she would last against him if the stories were true about the Uchihas legendary abilities.

Everyone was instructed to go up the stairs on the sides and look over from the balcony part of the arena, except for Sasuke and Karin. Naruto became suddenly nervous. He didn't know who to cheer for. He knew the obvious choice should be Sasuke because they're teammates and all, but he didn't want any harm to come to Karin. He wasn't sure if Sasuke would go easy on her. To Naruto, she looked delicate to him, like she had to be protected.

He could only hope that Sasuke didn't hurt her too badly.

Before everyone went to the upper level, a silver haired man walked past Sasuke and stopped behind him. It was probably his sensei. He whispered to Sasuke, but Karin didn't quite catch what he said. All she could make out was "Sharingan."

But from what she could tell, it must have been not that good, judging by Sasuke's expression changing from confident to surprised. He clutched his neck briefly before he noticed Karin watching him with intrigue. He quickly took the hand off his neck as that cocky expression returned to his face.

Hayate took a step back. "Now, please begin."

Before she could even prepare herself, Sasuke dropped down and swung his foot out, trying to kick her. She dodged that and took a kunai out of her pouch and threw it at him. It missed as he wasted no time at coming at her. He almost landed a punch on her but she blocked it with her arms raised in front of her. Before he could draw his arm back, she grabbed his arm and did an uppercut punch from underneath his chin.

Sasuke slid backwards slightly and wiped the blood that was already coming out of his mouth. "Tch," he said.

_Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu__! _He performed a set of hand signs as a giant ball of fire burst from his mouth. Karin wasn't expecting that, but she managed to dodge it, unfortunately not without getting slightly singed within the process.

The Uchiha charged at her while she was trying to quickly recover and kicked her square in the chest. She hit the cement wall hard.

Sasuke took a moment to analyze her abilities before she got up. From what he could tell, her speed was about average, nothing amazing. Her taijutsu was weak, but good enough where she could land a punch on him and draw blood. But her ninjutsu and genjutsu... That he didn't know.

Karin stood on her feet, her back aching from hitting the wall. _That's definitely gonna bruise_, she thought.

From up, Naruto watched, his eyes never leaving the fight between his teammate and the girl he has just recently befriended.

"GO SASUKE-KUN!" Sakura yelled from behind him. For once, Sakura was actually getting on his nerves. He turned around and glared at her. The pink-haired stopped her cheering from the unusual response she was getting from her teammate. Satisfied at shutting her up, Naruto turned around to continue observing the fight.

Karin took some shuriken from her pouch and threw it Sasuke. She had enhanced the shuriken with her chakra to make it even more deadly. He avoided most of them, but hissed in pain as one of the shuriken came into contact with his leg. He quickly moved to pull it out from his now bleeding leg, but was forced to look up as a swift kick to his face was delivered to him.

He flew a couple feet back away with a loud thud. This should have been already over with, he thought. He wanted so badly to use his Sharingan, but according to Kakashi that was a bad idea.

_"Whatever, I don't need it to be able to win against this girl..._ He got on to all fours before standing up on his own two feet. His damaged leg was shaky, but he controlled it so he didn't appear that he was weak.

Karin this time pulled out a kunai, only this time an explosive tag was attachted to it. She threw it in his direction as it exploded at the contact. There was smoke around the arena, and Sasuke use this to his advantage. It didn't hit him, but he was going to let her think it did. He quickly teleported behind her through the smoke and was about to make a move on her.

_He's right behind me, I can sense his chakra!_ She ducked down as he moved to strike her with his arm. She swung her leg down on the floor and tripped him as landed on the ground.

_How did she know I was there...?!_

The smoke cleared up as she got up on top of him yet another kunai to his throat.

No, he wasn't going to lose like this!

He overpowered her as he pushed her over so that their positions were switched. The kunai fell to her side as he wrapped his fingers around her throat. She opened her bright red eyes as she struggled for air. On his neck was a tattoo of sorts, and it was spreading at a rapid rate from his neck to the side of his face.

She brought her hands up to try to pry his own hands off her neck but to no avail.

_Just what is that tattoo?!_ She could feel her consciousness begin to fade as the need for air became so great.

"KARIN!" She heard someone distantly scream her name as her eyes began to close slowly.

_Is that... Naruto...?_

All of a sudden, she could breathe again, but she lost consciousness right afterwards. Hayate and Kakashi appeared behind Sasuke and pulled him off the now passed out girl.

The marks from his face began to retreat back from its place of origin.

"Someone get a medic!" Hayate yelled.

A pair of medics quickly ran over to them with a stretcher for just in case. They inspected her sustained injuries to see if taking her to the hospital would be necessary. There was minor bruising on her neck, slight burns, and her back would be pretty banged up for a while. They decided to put her on the stretcher and carried her away out of the arena and presumably to the hospital.

Hayate stood up from his spot on the floor before announcing, "Karin is unable to continue the battle. The winner of the first match is Uchiha Sasuke!" He eyed the Uchiha with distate briefly before he turned to look at the electronic scoreboard.

Meanwhile, Kakashi lead Sasuke back up the stairs to go stand with the rest of his team. He was met with a pissed off Naruto and a praising Sakura.

"What the hell, teme!" Naruto got in Sasuke's face, glaring harshly at him almost as if he wished he could fight him right there and then. "Why were you choking Karin? You could have killed her, you know!"

"Hn." Sasuke pushed him away and gave him a glare of his own. "Why do you even care? I'm your teammate."

In response, Naruto's face was splattered with a light blush. "Um..."

"Sasuke-kun, you did such a great job!" Sakura cooed. She jumped into Sasuke's unexpecting arms as she giggled. He pushed her away, annoyed with her embarrasing behavior. "Get off me," he grunted out.

The pink-haired kunoichi did as she was told and smiled at him. She knew she was being annoying, but she couldn't help but be happy and show him her affection. She didn't see him use the curse mark, and for that she was glad. She didn't want him to suffer at all.

"Sasuke, come over here for a second." Kakashi gestured with his head to an area a bit further away from Naruto and Sakura. Sasuke obeyed and followed the silver-haired jounin a little further away from the other two. They stopped when they were some distance away.

"You need to control that curse mark. You almost killed that Kusa kunoichi." Kakashi's onyx eyes hardened slightly as he looked down at his pupil.

Sasuke openly glared at him. "I know, and I tried. It was hard..." He almost regretted what he did to that Karin girl, but in the end, he won, and that was all that mattered to him. As long as it was another step to his goal of killing Itachi, he didn't care.

Kakashi watched as emotions were displayed across the Uchiha's face. That was all he needed to know. "I'm taking you to the back to seal up that curse mark."

Sasuke looked up at him and could only nod in reply. "Hn."

Naruto eyed his teammate and sensei. Something was going on with Sasuke, but he couldn't figure out what it was. He glanced at Sakura as he focused on her short hair. Something happened to both Sasuke and Sakura in the Forest of Death. Something on Sasuke's neck and Sakura's now cropped hair. He would get to the bottom of this.

"Sakura," he turned to his female companion. "Did you see anything weird on Sasuke's neck during the match?" He asked, hoping to get an answer from his brutally honest pink-haired teammate.

"Um... I also don't know." Her green eyes were casted downward as she tried to avoid looking into Naruto's eyes.

"Oh... okay." He didn't believe her, but for now he would accept that answer. He would find out sooner or later, right? He then turned his attention to get a better look at Karin's teammates.

He looked across the room and quickly spotted Karin's teammates. They were unfamiliar to him, therefore they were easy to find. They seemed unfazed about what happened to Karin. It was like they didn't even care about her wellbeing. Naruto gripped the balcony bars hard as anger flowed through him. How couldn't they care about her? What kind of teammates were they?

"Umm, we will now start the next match!"

The electronic scoreboard began searching through names as they flashed from one name to another. It finally stopped on the next two names after a couple seconds.

_Aburame Shino vs. Idane Genjiro_

Shino walked down to the first floor to where Hayate was at and waited for his opponent to come down from the second floor. Genjiro was soon standing in front of Shino.

Genjiro had dark green hair tied in a high pony tail, his hair falling to the middle of his back. His hitai-ate was placed on his forehead as some of his bangs covered the Kusagakure symbol. His brown eyes were set in determination as he gazed at his opponent. He wore a red vest with a black long sleeved shirt underneath it. His pants were also black like his under shirt. On his feet were the standard shinobi sandals, his color being blue. He adorned black fingerless gloves on his hand. On his neck appeared to be dogtags.

"Now we will begin the second match..." Hayate eyed both genin standing in front of him before saying, "...Please begin." He quickly stepped back to let the two genin begin their match.

Genjiro swiftly made the first move as he tried to punch Shino. The Aburame blocked it and pushed the green-haired male back. Genjiro performed a set of hand seals and slammed his hands on to the floor. _Rūto__ Chikyū no Jutsu!_A crack erupted from where his hands were as it started to tear down the middle of the floor towards Shino. From the large crack sprang forward what appeared to be roots that reached out at Shino and tried to grab him.

One root was successful in grabbing him and tried to pull him down into the enormous fissure in the floor. All of a sudden, what appeared to be tiny bugs started crawling down from Shino's arm and out his coat sleeve as they started pouring down on to the root. The root started to retreat back into the fissure as the bugs began to cosume the chakra from the roots.

"What?!" Genjiro's eyes widened in disbelief at what he saw. The chakra that was controlling his roots was being depleted by bugs! Suddenly he felt something crawling up his legs as he looked down to see what it was. More of the Aburame's bugs were making their way up his legs. There must have been thousands of them!

Then they were suddenly on his arms. The green-haired genin tried shaking his arms and legs to rid himself of the pests. He felt his chakra leaving him as the disgusting bugs kept continuing to invade his entire body. He was shortly reduced to his knees as he felt himself growing weaker with each passing second. By this time, his root jutsu was completely rendered useless. All the remained of his jutsu was the crack in the ground, the roots gone from sight.

Hayate stepped forward, feeling that the match was already over with. "Idane Genjiro is unable to battle," he declared, looking from Shino to Genjiro. "Aburame Shino is the winner!"

Shino's bugs withdrew in a blink of the eye as he already made his way up the stairs to the upper level. Kiba and Hinata both congradulated him as soon as he was near them.

"Hey, great job." Kiba grinned toothily at him.

"Shino-kun... Congradulations..." Hinata nervously said with a small smile of her own.

"Yeah, I'm counting on you guys too," Shino simply said.

In the meantime, Karin's other teammate and sensei helped Genjiro off his knees and back up to the upper level. He wasn't injured, so he didn't require medical attention. All he had sustained was chakra depletion, but nothing too severe.

From where Team 7 was standing, Naruto had an uncharacteristic smirk on his face. Karin's teammate, Genjiro, got what he deserved, in the jinchuuriki's opinion. He didn't seem to care if Karin got hurt, so why should Naruto care if he got hurt? He deserved it. Karin seemed like such a nice girl, it was in his instincts to be protective over her, just like he was with Sakura.

After a few minutes, the next two names were already on the scoreboard.

_Misumi Tsurugi vs. Kankuro_

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**Well, what do you think? I'm not too good with fighting scenes, but I thought they turned out okay. Yeah, I know Shino's fight with Genjiro seemed to be rather quick, but Shino's original fight with Zaku also happened to be quite short. **

**So yeah, Idane Genjiro and Karin's other teammate are OCs of mine. They're not canon. Perhaps if I ever have time I'll draw pictures of them as references for them.**

**Sooo yeah, please review, they would be greatly appreciated. **


	5. Chapter 5

**darkanomoly: HA! Well, good for you. If you didn't like last chapter because it was "lazily" and "poorly" written, you might as well drop this story because that's just the way I write. K. Bye.**

**Idk what's with people and insulting this fanfic... But whatever.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

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The fight between Kankuro and Misumi had gone just as quickly as the previous fights, with Kankuro winning in no time. The next match, however, had dragged out for far too long for most of the people watching; The match between Sakura and Ino.

Naruto had cheered Sakura on, of course. No matter how much of a bitch she was to him sometimes, he still cared for her and wished for her to win against her blonde rival. But the match had ended in a tie, much to his dissapointment.

And just like the matches before it, the match between Temari and Tenten had also went by in an instant. Temari kicked Tenten's ass brutally. It would have gotten out of hand if Gai had not stepped in and stopped the potential fight between Temari and Lee.

"Alright," Hayate started, "it's time for the next match." His black eyes flickered over to the electronic scoreboard as it began to go through all the potential combatants. It finally landed on the next two people:

_Nara Shikamaru vs. Akado Yoroi_

Kabuto's teammate swiftly teleported to where Hayate was and waited for the lazy Nara to come down. With a heavy sigh and an audible "troublesome," Shikamaru stuffed his hands into his pant pockets and sluggishly made his way down the stairs and onto the main floor.

The two male shinobi stood in front of each other, one with a pout, the other with no expression evident. Hayate coughed and eyed them briefly before announcing the next match.

"Begin."

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Naruto and Kiba were going at it hard. Unforunately, Naruto had been fighting against the ninken user poorly, due to Kiba's Beast Human Clone technique. But towards the middle and end, Naruto made quite the comeback.

Karin intently watched, her bright red eyes never once leaving the orange clad body of Naruto. From the other side, Hinata was, too. Noticing this, Karin couldn't help but glare slightly at the petite Hyuuga.

_Why doesn't she just cheer him on already? It's so obvious she wants to. _The red haired girl gave a soft sigh, just bareily audible to her oblivious teamamtes, and returned her undivided attention back to Naruto.

The way his chakra fluctuated fascinated her. It was so warm, so gentle, so... memorizing. It was different, and she couldn't figure out why for the life of her. He had so much of it; so much that it actually intimidated her somewhat. There was something unusual about him... and it wasn't just his kindness.

Kiba ran towards Naruto and made a sharp turn, claws ready to stike for the final blow.

"Naruto!" His name left her lips without even thinking.

Suddenly, the ninken user grabbed at his nose as he began to swing back and forth.

"Nasty!"

_...What the...? Did he just fart...?_

"Aw, seriously, did he just fart in that guy's face? That's so gross!" Her teammates laughed. "I'm so glad I'm not him!"

Karin's eye twitched.

As Kiba was offguard, the blonde-haired shinobi preformed his signature _kage no bunshin_ jutsu and surrounded him. Then, with the help of his bunshin, he kicked Kiba up into the air and brought him back down with a powerful kick to the face.

The Inuzuka landed hard on his face, blood coming out of his mouth as he painfully smashed his face into the hard ground. Naruto stood over him, panting loudly as he tried to get as much oxygen as possible into his deprived lungs.

Hayate kneeled before Kiba and turned him over slightly. He was unconscious. "The winner is Uzumaki Naruto," he declared, standing back up again as he backed away.

"Yeah! Way to show him, Naruto!" Karin yelled, happiness exploding in her chest at Naruto's victory. Her teammates gave her a strange look, both of their eyesbrows raised, and then exchanged a confused look with each other. They didn't question what her deal was.

The jinchuuriki looked up at her, smiling broadly as he did so. He gave a thumbs up to her as a blush colored his whiskered cheeks. Once he got back up the balcony with the rest of his team, both Sakura and Kakashi congradulated him. As they continued on talking, he couldn't help but let his mind wander over to Karin and her encouragement. He looked over to where she was at and let a smile cross his face.

They had just met, yet she was already giving him so much encouragement. It was refreshing, actually. An almost complete stranger was acknowleding him and his achievements. Naruto felt a swell of pride in his chest at the thought.

"Hyuuga Hinata versus Hyuuga Neji."

At the annoucement of Hinata's name, Naruto's focus went back to down below them.

Now it was his time to give encouragement.

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Karin winced as Neji landed yet another blow to Hinata. The poor girl, she thought. Her cousin was going at her without showing mercy. The Hyuuga girl had displayed some impressive skills, but she was definitely no where in the same league as her older prodigy of a cousin. Naruto had been the one to give her support and encouragement. And just as Karin expected, it seemed the dark-haired girl had a crush on the orange clad shinobi, as it seems she had drawn her strength from his faith in her.

After recomposing herself, with a final glance up to Naruto, Hinata charged at Neji, her palm raised in front of her with an aura of determination around her. The two Hyuugas struck each other at the exact same time. They were both still, as were the audience, until finally, Hinata's Byakugan deactivated and she fell to the floor.

Hayate began to step forward. "Since she is unable to continue this match-"

"NO! Don't stop the match!" Naruto yelled.

"Naruto! Can't you see? She's unable to continue-" Sakura began to say, but stopped as Naruto nodded down and gave a smirk.

Hinata started to stand, albeit shakily, as she weezed profoundly. After Hinata spoke of matters dealing with their clan, something she said angered Neji, causing him to run at her. Right before he dealt the final blow, Kakashi, Gai, and Hayate intervened and stopped the enraged Hyuuga from killing her.

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Lee and Gaara's fight had been intimidating. Karin couldn't even fathom fighting at the speed Lee was, and Gaara... she didn't even want to think about facing off against him. She felt so bad for the taijutsu user; Gaara crushing Lee's left arm and leg was a scene that will be forever burned into her memory. It was terrifying, Gaara's bloodlust. The red-haired shinobi won the brutal match.

_Akimichi Chouji vs. Akiyama Denbei_

"Goodluck," Karin said, pushing up her glasses as she did so. He nodded to her in acknowledgement and made his way to the bottom floor.

Denbei had straight dark orange hair that parted in the middle. His bangs were swept to the left and his eyes were a pale green. His left ear was pierced with a simple silver earring. He donned a black track jacket and light brown pants. His shinobi sandals were the standard black. Around his neck was the Kusagakure hitai-ate, it being black like the most of his apparel.

He looked Chouji up and down, seemingly judging him based on his heavyset appearance. An eyebrow came up as he observed Chouji stuff a bag of potato chips in his pockets before a serious expression came onto his round face.

"Now," Hayate glanced at both of them, "let the tenth match begin."

"You can do it!" Shikamaru yelled.

"Go fat ass!" Ino cheered, cupping her hands around her mouth to make herself louder.

Chouji glared up at Ino, his demeaner changing from serious to dark. "You better watch it! I'll win this match quickly!"

The larger shinobi put his hands in front of him in the shape of a triangle. _NinPou Multi-size no Jutsu!_ His body transformed into that of a large ball as he began to roll speedily towards Denbei.

The Kusa shinobi concenctrated chakra into his legs and jumped high into the air right before Chouji would have rolled right into him. Denbei had precise chakra control, much like Sakura, that allowed him to use it to advanced levels. Chouji spun around in an attempt to hit him. Jumping up again, with even more chakra focused into his legs, this time Denbei came down and landed a kick to Chouji's unprotected head. The powerful blow caused the Akimichi to spin out of control and bash into the cement wall.

His jutsu came undone as he crumpled to the floor in a heavy heap. He tried to stand up, but eventually fell back on to the floor, too weak to go on any longer.

"Akiyama Denbei, the winner!" Hayate announced.

A pair of medics came in soon enough and inspected the Akimichi still lying on the floor. Upon examination, it was found he was suffering from a concussion, due to the harsh blow to the head. They carried him off into the stretcher and left the room.

After the medics had left, Hayate waited until the teams calmed down and stopped their chattering. He coughed to gain their attention.

"Well, with this, the preliminary rounds have been completed!"

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The finalist of the preliminaries were as follows; Sasuke, Shino, Kankuro, Temari, Shikamaru, Naruto, Neji, Gaara, and Denbei. All of them stood in front of Hayate, minus Sasuke.

"Congradulations to you all," Hayate said before stepping back. The third Hokage came forward and gave them all a stern look, his hands folded neatly behind him.

"As I told you all before, in the main event, your matches will be seen by everybody."

"Each of you will fight to represent the strengths of your countries. I'd like you to show off all your powers with no reserves."

"...Which is why the finals will be held one month from now."

Naruto pointed at the Hokage. "Were not going to it here, right now?" He asked rather rudely. Sarutobi sighed. Naruto clearly didn't understand a word he said. Figures.

"No. This break, you can say, will be for preparations."

This time it was Neji to speak. "What does that mean?"

Sarutobi took the pipe he was holding from his mouth. "In other words..." He struggled internally to find the right words that these younger people could understand. Pausing, he chose his next words very carefully, with the true stealth of an elite shinobi.

"In addition to informing all the various country lords and shinobi leaders, this is the time needed to arrange for the gathering of the event. And this is also the preparation time for you examination students." He mentally gave himself a pat on the back for hopefully choosing the right words for these young people to comprehend.

"I don't understand what you're trying to say! What does that mean?" Kankuro spoke up, just as confused as everyone else.

_Nevermind..._ Sarutobi begrudingly thought.

"Basically, it's the preparation to get to know your enemy and yourself. To make everything fair, the one month should be used by all of you to advance and improve yourselves. Of course, it will be fine to rest your body as well."

During the Hokage's speech, Naruto drowned himself in thoughts of what he had seen firsthand today. He thought of Sasuke, Sakura and Ino's tie, his own fight against Kiba, his promise to defeat Neji for Hinata, the disturbing fight between Lee and Gaara, and of course, Karin's temmates. More specifically, Karin.

He felt his cheeks grow hot at the thought of the girl with the blazing red hair. Her support gave him such an ego booster. _Man, she's so... so cute!_

His thoughts ran short as he was on the recieving end of a pointed look from Sarutobi. Naruto sighed dejectedly, before trying to focus on the Hokage's boring speech about political stuff.

Before they could officially be dismissed, the winners drew a number which would decide who they would fight against in the finals. Naruto, much to his own surprise and excitement, would go up against Neji. He would be able to keep his promise to Hinata! Then it would be Kankuro against Shino, Sasuke vs. Gaara, and Shikamaru vs. Denbei, the winner going up against Temari. **  
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"Orochimaru-sama, we have a problem." Kabuto bowed, peering up through his glasses into his master's serpent like eyes. He had no fear when dealing with this man. He would always be able to look straight into his golden eyes.

Chuckling slightly, Orochimaru looked down at the silver haired man at his feet, noting how competent a servant he was. "And, what would that be?"

Kabuto hesitated before relaying the information he had gathered.

"The Oto team you dispatched to the Chunin exams has been disqualified. They didn't even make it to the prelims." Kabuto slowly began to stand up and face the man himself. A smirk made its way on to his young face, but he stopped it before it could grow any larger.

Orochimaru, with his arms folded, looked away and gazed upon the village of Konoha. It wasn't any different from when he was a genin. It had always been too tranquil. There wasn't enough death and havoc to satisfy him. "No matter. Those three are worthless fools." He said. Pausing, he began to seemingly think something over before speaking again.

"And which team is it that went into the preliminaries in their place?"

"A team from Kusagakure." Kabuto pulled out three cards from his pockets and studied them over briefly before continuing. "Two males, and one female. They're about the same age as Sasuke-kun."

"Anything noteworthy?"

Briefly glancing over their profiles, Kabuto was quick to answer. "The two males, from what I have gathered, only know the standard ninjutsu of Kusa, plus a few advanced ninjutsu, but nothing special nonetheless. As for the female..." He reviewed one of the cards in his hand in better detail, processing and memorizing the information he was being presented with.

"...She has a peculiar ability; the Mind's Eye of the Kagura. She's a sensor type shinobi."

Orochimaru, smiling to himself, mulled over the newly aquired bit of information. "Ah, well isn't that interesting..."

Perhaps she could be of use to him later...

But soon after, his smile turned into a frown. His expression grew sour as he scrutinized the way this village operated its daily life. He pushed the thoughts of the Kusa kunoichi to the back of his mind as he contemplated his plans for the serene village.

As keen as ever, the Konoha shinobi was aware something was on his lord's mind. "Is there something wrong?" He flashed his steel eyes in the general direction Orochimaru was looking and surveyed the area, finding nothing out of place or in the least bit interesting.

"This village..." He continued to stare off into the depths of the village, watching the birds fly and and hearing the laughter of its ignorant citizens, "is too accustomed to peace, when it is said that the other countries are strengthening their forces."

"Then this is the perfect time and oppurtunity to seize the village, is it not?" Kabuto asked, smirking. "But it seems you are still too hesitant to act, _my Lord_." This time Kabuto did not hold back on his arrogant bluntness.

Orochimaru's eyes flashed back to him in an instant. His eyes conveyed what he was silently asking; _Go on._

"Uchiha Sasuke-kun is the catalyst, isn't that right? You seem anxious about that little fact." The medic nin pointed out. He pushed his glasses up to the bridge of his nose and congradulated himself mentally. Even a legendary sannin like Orochimaru was easy for him to figure out. He was an open book.

"There was something that bothered me a little," The sannin said, closing his eyes and making himself comforable against the pillar he was leaning on.

If possible, Kabuto's smirk grew even larger, and far more narcissitic. "Is it... Uzumaki Naruto-kun?" Yes, Orochimaru really was a simple minded being. He predicted that this would be his reaction to Naruto, after Kabuto witnessed how close the Uzumaki was to the Uchiha.

Orochimaru reached into his pant pocket and pulled out a card. "According to your data, it looks as if his contact with the Kyuubi brat has softened his heart and goals. He's a child that has too much influence on Sasuke-kun." He pocketed the card, saving it for later so that he can examine it even more in private. "The faster we tear them apart the better," he concluded.

Kabuto began to turn away from him before he was stopped by the hiss in the snake-like man's smooth voice.

"Kabuto... If you wish to stop me, then you must kill Sasuke-kun."

The silver-haired man froze, slowly looking over his shoulder and directly into the amber eyes of a madman.

"But, you're too weak to kill me, only about the same level as Hatake Kakashi."

Silence passed over the two shinobi.

"Hehe," Orochimaru giggled, breaking the painful ice between them. "I'm only joking. Go on now. I have faith in you."

The last thing Kabuto saw before he teleported away was Orochimaru giving him a smile coupled with a disturbing wink.

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**Sorry for the late update. It took me a while to write and edit this chapter. Hope ya enjoyed. Reviews would be appreciated!**


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